Chile from Within A beautiful and haunting photographic remembrance and personal history of the events surrounding Allende's overthrow and takeover by Pinochet, including the 15 years of disappearances and reign of state terror

m-pyrical movies

Antonia's Line This week I advocate a really weird philosophical family epic about life and death and really weird people you just have to love. Beautiful and funny and with a hilarious sex scene like you've never experienced.

Maggie's Picks

The Big Chill My life's challenge: how to maintain my ideals and passion no matter what

m-pyrical music

The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow This is one of my favorites, and from Albuquerque boys, too! I mean, how perfect a song is "Mine's Not a High Horse"? PERFECT, I tell you!

Iron & Wine and Calexico: In the Reins If you like Iron & Wine (I do) and you like Calexico (I do), give this collaboration a try. Each song is good for distinctly different reasons. It works, but unexpectedly so.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

And then there's the nosepicker....

Mikaela says:On the other side of cool, there's Tom & Katie's kid, who's at a disadvantage already.

Great story in the Washington Post about some of the weird restrictions -- on the woman -- Scientology places on childbirth. See for yourself. Katie has GOT to be thinking, "What on earth -- or other planets -- did I get myself into?" Take the baby and run, Katie. Don't look back.

- Silent birth. How is this even possible without sedation? According to an explainer now prominently linked on the Scientology Web site, screams are okay -- just certain words or phrases (like "Scientology is weird, man!") should be avoided.

- The pacifier. Star magazine reported that Cruise had an adult-sized pacifier specially made to help muffle any birth-related screaming, moaning and general mommy blather. Cruise denies the report.

- Grandma not welcome. Fearing bad karma -- or some kind of disturbance in the Scientological force -- Holmes' mom is reportedly persona non grata in the delivery room.

- No baby talk. Katie mustn't talk to little TomKitten for seven days. If true, this seems like the most unnatural limit of all. How many studies are there about the importance of a mother's affection from the get-go?

- Baby's first days. According to the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, here courtesy of Slate, after birth the baby should "be wrapped somewhat tightly in a warm blanket, very soft, and then left alone for a day or so."

(Notice all of the above limits are on Katie and not Tom. Who knew Scientology was so sexist?)

I'm not worried about baby TomKitten, though. According to the Scientology explainer everything will be okay:

Most children raised in good Scientology homes are above average in ability and quickly begin to understand how and why people act as they do. Life thus becomes a lot happier and safer for them.